


100

by cleo4u2



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Bucky Barnes's 100th birthday, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Steve misses his man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 08:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11756058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cleo4u2/pseuds/cleo4u2
Summary: This was written for the Not Without You, Kickstarterbackers rewards:Steve celebrates Bucky’s 100th Birthday alone because Bucky is still in cryo





	100

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the one and only Glow Cloud, [NurseDarry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NurseDarry/profile). ALL HAIL.

Nearly a year after finding Bucky again and losing him to cryo, after losing Tony, Natasha, and freeing those who had fought with him from their submerged prison, Steve found himself back in Wakanda. He had tried to stay away; T’challa had done so much for them already, Steve didn’t want to get him in more trouble with the U.N. and the other nations that had signed the Accords making Steve a criminal. He also didn’t want to give anyone a reason to look closer at the only place Bucky thought was safe.

That didn’t mean he could stay away for Bucky’s birthday.

When Steve climbed off the plane, he was met by T’challa himself. The look of pity in his eyes was too much for Steve to bear, and he avoided the king’s gaze. There was compassion as well, however, and T’challa did not ask why Steve had come. He simply led Steve to his car, then to the palace, asking after the others as they went. At the palace, however, he gave Steve the space he needed, and Steve was aware that the lack of personnel or technicians was T’challa’s doing, as well. He would have to thank the king before he left, though he doubted he could ever repay all that T’challa had done for him.

The room where Bucky slept was as Steve remembered, the tube with his silent friend as full, and empty, as he remembered. Pulling up a stool, Steve slung a leg over and sat, just looking at Bucky. The peace in his expression struck him as powerfully as it had that day when they’d said goodbye. They’d had mere days together, but this moment, this last moment, was the only time Bucky had let his burdens drift away.

Feeling his throat go tight, Steve bent down to the rucksack he’d carried with him from the plane. From it he pulled two beers, cracking one open with his hand and setting the other beside the stasis tube. With Bucky asleep, there was no reason he couldn’t spend today sharing a beer with his best guy.

“Happy Birthday, Buck,” Steve told the sleeping man. “One hundred years old. Who’d a’thunk?” Looking down again, Steve shook his head and wondered if he was crazy for talking to Bucky at all. “Cheers.”

Taking a sip, he smiled and looked up at the man he’d once loved. What they were now, what they could be, it was all undetermined. It would remain so until T’challa’s people could wake Bucky and give him back his mind. Hell, Steve didn’t even know if Bucky remembered what they’d meant to each other so long ago. Maybe they couldn’t have it back. Maybe they could. He’d be here when Bucky woke up to find out.

**Author's Note:**

> [Follow Cleo on Tumblr ](http://cleo4u2.tumblr.com/)


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